Sunday, October 13, 2013

Etc.

I can't believe anybody would EVER do this to puppies. Only six of the ten "dumpster puppies" survived. Fortunately, they've all been adopted:

The barely born puppies abandoned 10 weeks ago in a trash bin have found permanent homes throughout the Reno-North Tahoe region.

“It’s an amazing level of satisfaction to see them go from extremely sick, tiny creatures to healthy, happy animals that the whole community is interested in providing a forever home,” said Becky Goodman, executive director of Pet Network Humane Society in Incline Village.

Pet Network received between 60 to 75 adoption applications from across the United States for Reggie, Dobbs, Diva, Maisie, Otter and Bandit, Goodman said, with the goal of placing them in local, loving homes.

The complexity of their life cycle is mirrored by the complexity of the threats they face. For the past 15 years, scientists have been watching monarch numbers plummet, as much as 81 percent between 1999 and 2010. They reached nearly catastrophic lows in the winter of 2009-2010 and have barely recovered since.

One recent study suggests that the long-term survival of the species may be in doubt. A few weeks ago, one of the scientists devoted to studying monarchs, Ernest Williams at Hamilton College, summarized for me the threats that have been reported in recent studies.

Nearly every link in the monarchs’ chain of being, he said, is at risk. Illegal logging in Mexico has reduced their winter habitat — an already vanishingly small area, which is itself being altered by the warming climate. Ecotourists who come to witness the congregation of so many butterflies disturb the creatures they have come to see. But perhaps most damaging is the demise of milkweed.

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"Revenge porn" is not just disgusting in my book, it is downright sociopathic.